Article September 13, 1993 Issue

The understanding that heals

A humble, wholehearted yielding to the power of God is just what's needed.

Robin Hoagland

The speech I had chosen to memorize for my Shakespeare class was a familiar one from Julius Caesar—"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. ..." And I had devoted hours to learning each pause and clause until I could recite the whole of it flawlessly. When I finally delivered it in front of my instructor, she nodded politely at my conscientious effort. "Now this time," she said with a wry smile, "say it as if you meant it."

A poor Mark Antony I had made! Here was a speech capable of stirring a thousand cries for justice, and all that I had seen in it was a bland series of pat phrases. No word had been missed, but I had utterly ignored the deeper meaning. I had recited it by heart, but not from the heart, and this is the critical difference between merely declaring something and actually knowing what it means.

Nowhere is this distinction more essential than in our approach to religion. Christ Jesus' healing ministry, for example, was based on his unparalleled understanding of God and of man's precious relationship to Him, an understanding that came from the heart and touched the heart. Every human need placed at his feet was cared for, because he knew that nothing could limit God's love.

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The understanding that heals

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